The killing of a Catholic priest in Tabawan Island last January 15 at around 8:30 in the evening drew in condemnation from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), saying the lives of non-combatants including priest are held inviolable in Islam even in combat situation. Sheikh Mohammad Muntassir, head of the MILF Da’wah (Call to Islam) Committee, said the killing is an indication of the worsening situation in the Philippines that spared no one from the scourge of violence.

“We condemn this killing in the highest possible terms and the killers  deserve Hell for their barbaric act,” he said.

The priest was identified as Jesus Reynaldo A. Roda, director of the Notre Dame of Tabawan and head of the mission station there for the last ten years.

Father Roda, a member of the Oblates of the Mary Immaculate (OMI) congregation, was killed while praying at the chapel “n an apparent kidnapping attempt,” report said. The armed men barged in and tried to take him, but he  struggled and resisted being taken away, and explicitly told his kidnappers, said a witness said, he preferred to be killed right there and then.

The priest was beaten before he was shot to death.

Tabawan is an island located some eight hours away by boat from the capital town of Bongao, where the body of the priest was brought and then to Cotabato City and finally to the Oblate cemetery in Tamontaka, Datu Odin Sinsuat in Shariff Kabunsuan for his final resting place.

Father Roda was ordained priest on May 10, 1980

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